Staff Development

One significant issue that arose while I was completing the most recent learning experience was the fact that as a leader of IICT I need to be prepared to support my staff with applicable, user-friendly, professional development opportunities. It is one thing to desire change, but it is an entirely different task carrying-out the change. It begins with a good plan, including goals, available technology, ICT knowledge, and a strong team. To keep the plan moving forward, staff need to be supported in their efforts, both through encouragement as well as professional development. This is junction in which ICT leaders need to implement very specific and timely PD.

The purpose of this PD should be to increase the comfort-level of staff members, as they are the individuals who will integrate and implement the specific steps of the plan. The PD should be hands-on and allow for plenty of exploration time for staff. It should also include some specific training on key features of the program or technology. And examples of its use in a classroom setting or as a classroom task should also be made apparent to staff, so that they can see the tool in action and begin to think of ways they can use the same tool to help support their classroom learning.

But, before this can happen, each individual teacher will need to also have a plan for integratiing technology on their own program. There is no 'cookie cutter' solution, which suits all classrooms. Instead, there are programming opportunities just waiting to be capitalized on. A traditional, oral presentation can be slightly adapted by the teacher to integrate IICT, such as Voicedthread, to suit his/her classroom. Or, a plan to use PowerPoint presentations can be altered to become a Prezi 'prezentation'. Teachers can start implementing IICT without impacting the programming they may already have in place. A class blog/vlog could be created to keep parents/guardians as well as students and the school community aware of what is going on in the classroom. Once the teacher feels comfortable with blogging for his/her class, then he/she can begin to integrate it in to their programming, as a reflection tool or as a means of conducting and gathering research.

 

The 'Qualities of a Good Leader' video was a great opportunity to reflect on my own practice, identifying the leadership qualities I already incorporate in my classroom. It also provided me with an opportunity to look forward and plan for ways in which I could enact leadership qualities in my future role as a IICT leader.

 

 

For example, I am a leader who leads by example. This is an effective means of leading when the leader desires others to emulate him/her. However, when it comes to making change happen, a leader who leads by example can only take his/her team so far. This is the point in which the leader needs to switch gears and become not only a leader who leads by example, but also one who speaks up and out for his/her intiative. Leading by example can be inspirational; however, many teachers do not know where and how to start when they are inspired. This is when the leader of IICT can speak up and share his/her knowledge and expertise. Once the momentum has been established, then he/she can speak out, describing the needs of the school to administration as well as other IICT leaders with in the board, so that his/her school can have access to all the technology necessary to support student learning.

 

Many of my colleagues have shared with me a variety of effective ways to implement and provide professional development for my current school. They have done so because they have had opportunities to test and implement IICT PD, and they now wish to share their knowledge with others. I can now take the expertise they have shared with me in to my school for my school's intiatives.